Sunday, August 28, 2016

Once a year is better than never

How G spent her summer vacation

Taking voice lessons and dance classes and rehearsing for a production of the Addams Family musical. She's playing Alice Beineke, which is a pretty large supporting role and has its own song, so she's pleased with that.

The $100,000 question

Senior year starts a week from Tuesday, which means both of us have had this conversation more times than we can count in the last few months:

Q: Where is G going to college?

A: She is definitely going somewhere.

Q: But where though?

A: We don't know yet.

Q: Well, where is she applying?

A: We'll have to see.

Even though everyone and their dog asks high-school kids this question, it's really impossible to answer, because with the way the college application process works, you have no way of knowing where you're going to get in until you get in. None. You could have a 4.9 weighted GPA, a 2400 SAT score and a history of rescuing environmentally damaged seabirds, playing the violin and building homes with Habitat for Humanity, and you still might not be accepted by the school you want to attend. Right now I'm having enough trouble convincing G to apply to a few places and see what happens instead of just going to community college because it's easy (not the actual coursework, but the application process) so being asked The Question over and over again is a bit stressful. At least a decision will be made sooner or later and she'll have an answer to give people.

What about me?

Laboring away in the corporate salt mines, writing fiction (occasionally), taking photos (more often), doing my part-time job as G's personal Uber service. I told her I would pay for her lessons and buy her a car if she would learn to drive, which you'd think would be an irresistible offer to a 17-year-old--it certainly would have been to 17-year-old me--but to no avail.